Skye's Sister
by kadair
Summary: Skye's older sister Caity knows Skye is in danger. The only way to protect her is to go undercover into Shield as Fitz's therapist. Caity must hide Skye's budding abilities from everyone, including Skye.


Caity let the clay spin through her fingers on the wheel. Normally, it relaxed her, but nothing seemed to soothe the anxiety she felt these days – not since her little sister had formed a psychic link with her during a near death experience months ago. It had been temporary, but it was enough for Caity to sense her presence. If Caity could sense her, then it was only a matter of time before their father found out she was alive. Caity couldn't let that happen. She had to find her first. She had to protect her, but so far she'd only attained three solid clues: Her sister had been a part of a now defunct agency called Shield, her life had been saved by someone named Dr. Simmons, and she was going by the name Skye.

She'd hired some of the best private investigators she could find, but they had all come up empty-handed. It was like Skye was a ghost, until now that is. Finally, one of her leads had come through. She had tracked down Dr. Jemma Simmons, and she was going to use her to get to Skye.

One week later…

Learning Jemma's schedule had been easy. She lived her life like clockwork. At precisely 7:00 she exited her building with her silver coffee cup and then bought a pastry from the bakery of the corner of Benton Park and Third Street. She was at work by 7:25 and didn't leave until 5:00. Caity knew Jemma was now working for Hydra, but she didn't think Skye was with her. It was time to take more drastic measures.

Sporting a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses, Caity entered Jemma's building and was grateful for the relaxed security. She headed up to apartment 2C and checked to make sure no one was watching while she picked the lock. YouTube had made it look so much easier than it really was.

Caity's heart skipped a beat when the door to the apartment behind her opened. She tried to yank the pick out of the lock, but it stuck. A middle aged man stepped into the hallway.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh hell," Caity thought and took off her sunglasses. The man stepped back in fear as her eye color changed from dark brown to a brilliant blue. "Don't worry," she said calmly. "You won't remember any of this in a couple of minutes." She could tell the minute her mind linked with his. Images of his life flashed into her mind, and for the moment, she could access any memory, any knowledge that he had. Steve was his name, and, as luck would have it, the high-powered attorney he'd become had a misspent youth. He knew exactly how to pick Dr. Simmon's lock.

"Be my guest," she said. Caity stepped to the side and motioned toward Jemma's door. It took him less than a minute.

"Is there anything else that you need?"

"No," Caity told him, "and for your help, I'll give you a gift. From this moment on, you will no longer crave tobacco."

"Okay," he said. Steve smiled at her wistfully. The endorphin rush he was currently feeling was a common side-effect of the mind link.

"Now go to work, and forget this ever happened."

Steve left without saying another word. As he walked away, Caity slowly broke the link between them. With the link gone, she no longer had an intimate knowledge of all things 'Steve'.

Caity slipped into Jemma's apartment and went to work. If she was going to use Jemma to get close to Skye, then Caity knew she was going to need more than temporary access to Jemma's mind. Caity unscrewed the plate to an air vent and placed a thought crystal inside. It was like a relay system for the mind and would imprint on the first brain it came in contact with. As long as it was within a couple yards of the subject, Caity could form a link no matter how many thousands of miles she was away from the person. Unfortunately, though, she would only have access to Simmon's mind while she was at her apartment.

Caity finished screwing the plate back onto the vent when she heard a key in the lock to Jemma's apartment. She looked at her watch. It was only three o'clock. Jemma wasn't supposed to be home yet. Caity hid in the closet and then felt the crystal lock on to a person's mind. It wasn't Jemma.

"Wonderful," Caity thought to herself. It was just her luck that Jemma got a visitor for the first time in a week. As far as she could tell, Jemma didn't have any friends, let alone someone she would give a key to. The only logical explanation was that it was either the building manager or the maintenance man. Now she was going to have to get another crystal and sneak back into Simmon's apartment for the second time.

The visitor wasn't the maintenance man or the building manager. The mind Caity sensed had an almost alien-like quality. Caity cautiously searched his mind. His name was Agent Coulson, and his mind was full of worry – worry for Jemma, for Shield, for someone named Fitz, for…Skye? Caity had accidentally stumbled onto a gold mine. She learned that Skye had once worked for an anarchist organization called the Rising Tide, that Coulson had recruited her to work for Shield, and that he knew some of Skye's true origins (though thankfully not the whole story).

She heard the door to the refrigerator open, and then Coulson groaned. "Jemma," he said a loud, "don't you ever go grocery shopping? Seriously, for someone with such a high IQ…" he didn't finish his sentence. Pain shot through Caity's mind; she cried out and fell to her knees. Moments later Coulson was standing over her pointing a gun at her head. She couldn't think straight, let alone create another mind link with him. The crystal was completely neutralized.

"How did you do that?" Caity asked.

"Do what? Find you? It's pretty easy to locate someone who shouts out their position. Now put your hands behind your head and slowly stand up."

Caity did what he asked and tried to tune out the ringing in her ears. Somehow, he had severed her connection to his mind, but as far as she could tell, he had no idea she'd been reading his thoughts. Nothing about what was happening made sense unless he was some kind of alien being that she had never come across. If he was, he didn't know it.

"What were you doing in Dr. Simmons closet?"

There was only one downside to linking with someone's mind. Once it had been done, it was impossible to lie to that person. Thankfully, Caity had practice telling the truth without completely telling the truth, and she'd had fifteen minutes to learn everything she could about Coulson and his associates.

One of the best tactics was to never answer a question directly. "I know that Dr. Simmons is a double agent in Hydra."

Coulson took the safety off of his gun. "Who do you work for?" It took a moment for Caity to come up with an answer. Coulson must have mistaken her silence for resistance. "Answer me!" he yelled.

Of all the death defying moments she'd encountered, Caity thought it would be a shame if she went out like this. "I don't work for anyone, but I would like to work for you. I know that Fitz's condition isn't getting better, and I think I can help."

"If you don't work for anyone, then how do you know about Fitz?" he asked.

"I have my source, and my source is on your side." He didn't have to know that her source was him. "So, either let me help, or kill me because I can guarantee you that I know enough about what is left of your organization to bring it down."

Coulson's face hardened. "Are you threatening me? Because you're crazy if you think I'm going to jeopardize my team's location on the off chance that you can cure Fitz's brain damage."

"I am not threatening you. I am simply offering you a choice. As for your team's location, I already know that." Caity told him the coordinates and thanked her lucky stars she had committed them to memory during their link.

He looked worried. "Who else knows?"

"As far as I know, it's only me and my source," she said. "My source knows that Shield needs more agents. I hoped that Dr. Simmons had a…connection. I was right."

"Does Jemma know you?"

"No."

"How did you get in here?"

Caity smiled. "Not through conventional means."

He did not smile back. "I don't trust you," Coulson said, "but I would rather give you a chance than let you go free with the knowledge you have. If there is even a chance that you can help Fitz, then it's worth the risk, but don't think we're going to let you roam free. You will have limited access, and we will be monitoring you."

She was in. "I understand your terms, but I do have a request."

"What?"

"Will you please put the gun down?"


End file.
